S.H.E -Taiwan's pioneer girl band

S.H.E is a Taiwanese girl band that consists of Selina Jen, Hebe Tien and Ella Chen. The name of the group is an acronym derived from the first letter of each member's name. S.H.E has recorded more than 10 albums and sold more than 5 million records. The three singers have also been in several drama series, hosted TV shows and recorded the soundtracks to several movies.

S.H.E was some of a pioneer girl band in Taiwan. Thanks to the group's big success several other girl bands have been formed.

Met during a song contest

The three girls met during a song contest back in 2000. All the girls did well in the contest and went to the final, that eventually was won by Jen. Jen was rewarded a record deal and then talked into forming a girl's band together with Tien and Chen.

In the beginning, S.H.E was called ”S.H.E girlfriends” (S.H.E 女朋友） as the record label was scared that they were going to be mixed up with the Korean girl band S.E.S. Eventually the group's name was shortened to S.H.E.

From covers to ten albums

In the beginning the band mainly did covers. In order to get to know each other and create a good chemistry, they lived together in a dorm. On September 11, 2001, the band released its first album called ”Girls Dorm.” In the album, the girls sang about the memories of their initial living conditions. Even though the album sold well and the girls were nominated as ”best new artist” during the Golden Melody Awards, S.H.E received a lot of criticism because they were singing out of tune during their first live TV-performance. One year after Girls Dorm, S.H.E released their second album, Genesis.

From there, the girl's career took off for real. Within a few years, the girls made more than 10 albums. S.H.E also contributed songs to several soundtracks, including Magical Love, The Rose, Reaching for the Stars, Tokyo Juliet, The Little Fairy, Hanazakarino Kimitachihe and Bull Fighting.

The group's music falls under category pop, but every album also consists of several love ballads.

Six things you didn't know about S.H.E

The band has been criticized for doing too many covers, especially during the early days of the girl's career. The most famous ones in the west are S.H.E's version of Westlife's "Soledad" and Brittney Spears' ”Everytime.”

S.H.E's been called ”the fattest girl band in history” since none of the girls posses the typical, stick thin figure that seems to be the norm amongst Chinese female artists. The band members have also referred to themselves as ”the ugliest girl band of history.”

Since the girls' appearances are only regarded as moderate the record label have tried to give them a new image several times. A more sexy/rock star look have been tried, but neither lasted for long.

The song "Don't Wanna Grow Up" is a is a parody of Mozart's 40th Symphony.

The girls have been turned into live advertisement posters by several companies, including Coca Cola, Fuzion Smoothie, Bobson Jeans, Bausch & Lomb, China Mobile and World of Warcraft -a fantasy computer game.

In 2006 S.H.E caused a stir in Chinese media after the controversial statement ”we are not Chinese, we are Taiwanese.” As a result, the band was boycotted by Chinese media for a time and more coverage was given to the band's biggest competitor: Twins, from Hong Kong.